


Got me thinking

by Winchesterowaaa



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Insecure Will, M/M, Protective Nico di Angelo, Will is dumb, english is not my first language, i have no Beta, they all nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-04 12:24:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winchesterowaaa/pseuds/Winchesterowaaa
Summary: It’s been five months since Will decided to befriend Nico di Angelo against his will. He practically stalked the poor Hades kid for the first few weeks. Nico acted all annoyed by that, but Will had a hunch that he actually didn’t mind it too much. He didn’t try to kill him after all. He didn’t even threaten Will, just rolled his eyes and glared daggers, while knowing it didn’t work on the blond one at all. So it was mostly just a pose, something he got so used to doing, it was hard to stop. A habit, nothing more.





	1. Just like home

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this one for like over a year. After a boy i knew, who loved PJO, commited suicide it was hard for me to get back to it. He wasn't even 18. He helped me with this stupid short Solangelo fic i wrote before. He liked the idea of this one. It feels stupid to say it's for him, but i wish he was here.

It’s been five months since Will decided to befriend Nico di Angelo against his will. He practically stalked the poor Hades kid for the first few weeks. Nico acted all annoyed by that, but Will had a hunch that he actually didn’t mind it too much. He didn’t try to kill him after all. He didn’t even threaten Will, just rolled his eyes and glared daggers, while knowing it didn’t work on the blond one at all. So it was mostly just a pose, something he got so used to doing, it was hard to stop. A habit, nothing more.

Whenever Will saw Nico walking alone, he suddenly appeared by his side. He liked to think of himself as an ninja. Nico never saw him coming, or at least Will was telling himself that.

Nico went by himself for a walk in the forest? Will was right after him with a sword, that was taken by the son of Hades the moment he saw it. Will was _not_ as good with swords as he thought. Or fighting and weapon in general. He was quite alright with a bow and arrows, but he was no Hawkeye. For a child of Apollo, that was really surprising. Will tried really hard not to let that bring him down too much. For some reason he couldn’t fight with people, he would just freeze, even if it was during practise. He could fight monsters as any average camper, but he never found it enjoyable like others.

Nico left his cabin to eat dinner at the Hades table? Will was by his side with a shit eating grin. Mr D even let Nico sit at the Apollo table after Will did some talking and ass kissing _. Mr D have you lost weight? You look so good today with this shirt on. Zeus was so unfair when he decided to punish you. You’re my favourite god after my dad._

Will was just making sure that Nico would never be alone again. Not even when he wanted to. Especially since no one of his friends group was a year-round. Except maybe for Leo, but he was with Apollo and Calypso who knows where. Hazel was in Camp Jupiter, Jason with Piper in school. Percy and Annabeth were PercyAnnabeth, one strong and inseparable unit and also in school. It wasn’t as if Nico never talked to anyone, he was on good terms with Clovis, Malcolm and little Harley adored him, but he wasn’t close with any of them. And so Will’s mission has begun.

He tried to be as entertaining as he could during their walks, too. He didn’t wanted to bore the son of Hades.

He talked about technology firstly, since he saw Nico struggling with using a computer (Nico actually stabbed the monitor and pouted for two hours, it was freaking adorable, Will took a picture Nico didn’t know about, Cecil called Will creepy). After a few secret lessons Nico found out about his love for classic Mario and other games. It didn’t took him long to become better than Will and even Annabeth. It the end, nobody in the camp wanted to play with him anymore. He was better than everyone else and playing against him was no fun for anyone. All campers seemed to forget the fact that the son of Hades was in hotel Lotus for over half a century. And even though he didn’t remember anything from his time there, he still had some wild gaming skills. Will joked Nico should start a YouTube channel.

Internet was actually something new around the camp. Some Hephaestus, Hermes and Hecate kids found a way to use computers, phones and technology in general without attracting the attention of the monsters. Campers were naturally delighted. Chiron? Not so much. As expected from someone so ancient, he just couldn’t understand the excitement. For the first time in who knows how many thousands of years, he had to force campers out of their cabins. Even Chiron’s patience had its limits.

Campers used snapchat all the time, it was quite ridiculous in all honestly. Photos from sword practise, stupid selfies or sneaky pictures of others.

Aphrodite cabin, naturally, was sending selfies to everyone all the time, only Piper and the new camper Billy looked slightly disturbed with that. But even they gave in a few times. Apollo’s children were sending videos of playing instruments and singing or doing cool bow stuff, Will was not. Ares cabin photographed their defeated enemies, Hermes cabin was into pranks. Jason was in love with the superman filter, he also created the unforgettable duck face pic, legends were written about it. Percy was making funny faces with his baby sister, mom and step-dad and Nico was just silently judging everyone else, especially Jason Grace. Only once in a while he would be sending Will something funny and clever. And Will would screenshot everything. Will especially loved his selfies, the ones where Nico was making funny and cute faces. He had a separate album for them(‘’I have no idea why it’s written that I screenshot every photo you send me, Nico. I really don’t, it must be a weird glitch’’).

The other big thing was YouTube. It started with a few campers watching gamers and vlogers, but in the end even Jason Grace was watching Pewdiepie, Markiplier and Phil Lester. Will’s favourite was Mark and so was Nico’s, so when there was a new video added, they watched it together.

The surprising part was Jason’s love for Pewdiepie and his quite offensive sense of humour. They also learned that _the_ Jason Grace, golden boy, blond Superman and general sweetheart, had the same sense of humour as the problematic YouTube dad. This information shocked the camp more than Apollo being human.

Nico and Will had their spot under a big tree at the edge of the forest. Sometimes they would watch full playthroughs that lasted hours. Will would bring food and Nico his stupid blanket with bones all over and they would just snuggle up together and watch on Will’s phone, ignoring the rest of the world. They would sit slightly closer each time and sometimes Nico would put his head on Will’s arm. It was nice, made Will feel special.

And obviously games were really popular. Computer games, psp games, oculus rift. Everything Hermes cabin could get and they could get a lot. Will liked lame medical games, Jason (not that he would ever say so) loved the Sims, and Nico and Piper liked gory games like The Evil Within or Outlast, horror games in general.

Basically games Will was too scared to play in, but didn’t mind watching Nico do it.

Will lent Nico his laptop one night. He wanted the smaller boy to read about some interesting things, maybe watch a movie, listen to music. He bookmarked a few important articles that seemed so obvious, they were rarely talked about. Like that one about the Moon landing or the fall of Berlin Wall. He thought of himself as really thoughtful.

Instead, he found Nico the next morning with red eyes, screaming Italian swear words at the game he was playing in the whole night. He decided not to lent Nico his laptop anymore, and so, just to spite him, Nico got his own the very next day. 

They also learned that Nico liked texting. Especially when he was bored. Will’s phone would be vibrating violently almost every night. Nico was sending him random stuff he found on the Internet or weird thoughts that easily could be called night blogging. He loved it. His siblings definitely did not.

It was a warm and sunny day in the camp, just like every other day during summer. It was actually the second day of it. Most campers already came the day before to welcome summer with their siblings and friends. The wind was moving the leaves on the trees, making the dryads laugh with joy. The sweet, melodic sound was making the satyrs go crazy. The whole camp was loud as always. Well, not as always, because a lot of kids lost their lives during the war, but the camp was back to normal. It wasn’t as the ones who died were forgotten, they would never be. Demigods just couldn’t stay behind with the dead ones, the only way for them was forward.

Ares’ kids were already training on the arena with campers from all houses, kicking their asses as always, with some exceptions like Piper. Children of Demeter were working on the strawberry fields and Will found himself quietly humming Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles.

The youngest campers were running around the camp with wooden swords. It was Will’s idea to give the new campers wooden weapons during their first days, so they wouldn’t kill or harm themselves without anyone watching. Chiron approved, mr D wasn’t really happy with that and called Will boring. Will didn’t mind it. He could go with boring, as long as everything was safe. After all that happened, boring was something he desired the most.

He looked up at the sun, it wasn’t burning his eyes like it did with others. It was just another quite useless weird Apollo thing. Because honestly, who wanted to spontaneously watch the sun? He imagined it was to observe his father chariot, but he never got a chance to actually see it.

Will, for obvious reasons, loved sunny weather. Sun was like an energy drink for the children of Apollo. It was making them happier, stronger, faster, and much more productive. For example Will could use his healing powers more than usually and he never felt so tired after. He even was better with fighting when the sun was shining. 

He looked at campers playing in the water and when he saw Nico sitting on his legs on the bridge playing some game on his phone, Will obviously went there.

“I heard Drew wants to murder you.” He started with a grin. Nico looked up and smiled a little. He had those rebel sparks in his eyes that made Will’s nerves tingle. He never smiled much, but Will still felt proud when he got the smallest twitch of the younger boy’s lips.

He looked at him, carefully taking his whole appearance. (He was not checking him out, it was for medical reasons only, obviously).

Nico looked so much better since before when Will forced him to stay those three days in the infirmary. He was still really thin and a few pounds underweight, but didn’t look like a corpse from concentration camps anymore. His cheeks weren’t hollow like before and bones on his body weren’t sticking out so much. His arms started to get a little muscular, too, and he even grew taller in such a short time. Will was happy to see that Nico’s legs were no longer looking like two sticks that could break any second.

The thing was, Will was sometimes forcing Nico to eat much more than he was able to fit into his small stomach. The shorter boy was obviously not happy about that, but Will had this cool thing called whining and complaining, which he could do for hours and hours. Nico could never win when he started. And so even when Nico started eating almost twice as much as he should, he still hadn’t gained much weight. Only when the blond one started feeding Nico protein bars, he began to slowly look heavier. It was just his metabolism that was making it harder.

His skin got also darker after Will forced him to go out of his cabin more often. His scars were more visible because of that, too. Will hated looking at them and each time he had the occasion to touch them, he would use his healing powers on them. He knew it was quite stupid, the scars would never disappear completely, but he couldn’t help himself.

Will sat in front of him. Nico was, as usual, wearing a black skinny jeans and a dark shirt. Will wondered if he wasn’t too warm in it. He himself had a white baggy tank-top and shorts. He made a mental note to buy Nico a My Chemical Romance shirt next time he’d have the occasion (he didn’t even have to buy it, he probably had one MCR shirt in the depths of his closet, he had a phase, no judging).

“I _might_ have summoned a skeletal hand that have made her trip. And she _migh_ t have fallen into the mud.” Will laughed a little. He really wished he could see that. It wasn’t often when someone did something to Drew. Most campers just ignored her; both to just ignore her and because of the eventual curse she could put on them; but obviously not Nico, and he looked so smug while at it. ‘’But just might.’’ He added in amusement.

“I’m sure Hermes cabin loves you right now.” Will said, then frowned. “But you’ll probably wake up with permanent make up or something like that tomorrow.” He tried to imagine Nico with make up on. Eyeliner would definitely look good on him. He could go full emo with that. Shiny lip gloss wouldn’t be too bad as well. Will didn’t know how the feel about Nico with red lipstick tho. Suddenly, he frowned. “Also, what did I tell you about-‘’

“It was just a small hand, Will. Look, I’m not fading.” Nico put his hand up. Naturally Will took it as an excuse to grab it. He smiled when Nico gripped it harder and didn’t let go. ”I had a good reason anyway.” He added shyly and so faintly, Will barely heard. He guessed he wasn’t supposed to hear it, so decided not to say anything. Nico had that thing when he was sometimes saying something, mostly to himself, like he didn’t even realise it.

Will was aching to ask, but he knew from the way Nico looked down, he wouldn’t answer. For some reason he was embarrassed. He decided to ask Piper about it later. She always knew everything, and he was sure she would tell him. They were on good terms since day one.

It wasn’t that he was really curious, well, he was, but it wasn’t all of it. He found himself worrying. He was always worrying about Nico.

Was Drew teasing him about being gay? She knew Nico still felt insecure about it, so she might have said something that could upset him. That’s just how she was. Drew was good at guessing weaknesses of other people. She never felt guilty and almost everyone hater her for that. But could she do something so awful? She surely must have had some limits. 

Will still remembered the time she made fun of his fighting skills. He still felt embarrassment and humiliated, even if that happened three years ago.

And Nico only came out two weeks ago, and mostly by an accident. During the campfire some Aphrodite girl asked about first crushes and Nico quietly said _Percy,_ but everyone heard it anyway _._ Out of all people _Percy Jackson._ It was at this moment that Will started feeling sorry for himself.

Nico liked Percy Jackson.

Will was nothing like Percy Jackson.

He was not a fighter. He didn’t do that bad in training, but during fight all his attention was on worrying about his loved ones so much, he could stab himself with an arrow. He wasn’t even as brave as most campers.  Will wasn’t the hero type, more like the forgettable follower. He had no musical talent or anything special besides his healing powers, and sometimes they seemed more like a curse and not a gift. Besides the healing, Will could take someone’s pain away. Both physical and psychical, but it came with a price. Everything always had a price with the gods, he learned that really quickly after finding out about the truth. The pain has never gone away. It just passed onto Will.

The first time he took Nico’s pain, he felt like dying.

The thing was, he _knew_ Nico was hurt. Obviously. He was alone for so long and have lost everything and more. Will just wasn’t prepared it would be this much.

He felt disgusting and it was so overwhelming that he feel on his knees. He couldn’t hear anything beside the loud pounding in his ears. He couldn’t even see anything for a while. Breathing was hard and painful.

He felt like nobody could ever love him, because he reeked of death. Like people hated him, wanted him to die. He felt like an anomaly. Like he wasn’t supposed to be alive, at least not in those times. The only place he felt like he belonged to, was taken away. The only person that wasn’t afraid of him, loved him, was dead, and Nico was blaming himself for it entirely. The one he loved for so long wanted him dead at some point, nobody wanted him around. People felt uneasy in his presence. And gods, how alone did he felt, how scared of trusting and loving he was. Why was he alive anyway? Why couldn’t he just die?

Will cried the whole night and in the morning he decided he will do everything he can to make Nico feel differently about himself. He wanted Nico to feel loved. He wanted Nico to know that there were people that loved and cared about him. And that he, Will, was one of them.

He just wasn’t sure which one of them wasn’t ready for that last part. Him? Or Nico?

He looked at the smaller hand in his. Nico was still a little cooler than usually people were, but Will guessed it was just a Hades thing. The Italian boy never complained about cold, so Will guessed it wasn’t an issue for him.

‘’A penny for your thoughts?’’ Asked Nico and Will blinked a few times before he snapped out of his thoughts. Nico put his other hand on their linked hands and it felt so nice, so natural that Will almost melted. Instead, he sighed.

‘’Ah… I dunno. I’m just worried, I guess.’’ He said, smiling a little. Nico only shocked his head.

‘’You’re always worried, Solace. What’s new?’’ Will frowned. He was worried about lots of things a lot, but he wasn’t worried all the time. Just… very, very often.

‘’Am I? All the time?’’ He asked, anyway.

‘’Yes. That’s your thing. You’re like that mom friend to everyone in here. And you have that little frown that makes you look like you’re really trying not to fart.’’ Will snorted and Nico smiled. A real, big, bright smile. The one that made his whole face lit up. Will grinned at him. This, here, was one of those precious little moments when Nico let himself to be not so uptight. When he was so relaxed, he didn’t care about anything, anyone. And obviously Will, being so gone for him, felt his heart grow an inch. ‘’That’s your thinking face.’’ Added Nico softly.

‘’That was really graphic. Thanks, Hedwig.’’ Nico looked confused. He narrowed his eyes and moved his head a little to the side. Some of his hair feel on his face. He looked adorable like that and Will had to stop himself from touching his check and pushing the hair behind his ear. He was scared Nico would push him away. He realised that Nico’s hair were almost long enough to put in a ponytail. Maybe he should cut it for Nico? Would Nico let him? Will was quite good with hair. He was doing Austin’s and Kayla’s hair all the time.

‘’I don’t understand.’’ He said in the end, after a full minute of thinking.

‘’You remember Harry Potter, right?’’ Asked Will with narrowed eyes, ready to drag Nico for another Harry Potter movie night. He didn’t force Nico into reading the books for obvious reasons, but he did gave Nico audiobooks of every part. They were supposed to watch Lord of the Rings next week and Star Wars a week after that. Will was a nerd. He made a mental note to ask Jason and Lou-Ellen to join them. Nerds unite and all that. He’d ask Leo, too, but Leo was on a mission with his dad.

Nico made a face.

‘’Yes. Wait. Was Hedwig the owl?’’

‘’Yup. _Was_. Thanks for the reminder, Spooky Scary.’’ Will cried for a full week after he read that part of the book. It was also the first time he threw a book across the room and refused to look at it for a while. The feels always hit him hard. Will in general was really emotional. He was banned from watching movies where animals died by his siblings. He cried so hard on Marley and Me. They actually made fun of him for that. And the infamous page 250 from The Death Cure. Will was really good at pretending it never happened.

‘’Okay, but why did you call me Hedwig? I don’t get it.’’ Nico asked.

‘’Owls are night creatures. I was trying to be amusing.’’

‘’Sorry I ruined your lame joke.’’ Will gasped and Nico smirked. That little shit.

‘’Wow, thanks, my self-esteem feels so much better now. Try again, Sunshine.’’

‘’Sorry I didn’t get your lame joke.’’ _Complete little shit._

‘’You’re like one of those mean and adorable cats. Also night creatures, by the way.’’

‘’Adorable?’’ He asked in a weird voice. His lips twitched.

‘’What team are you in the capture the flag?’’ Will decided to change the topic, feeling the blush on his face. Nico sighed and shrugged, looking down. It was still a few days to the game, but some houses already decided on what team they’re on. It was the opening summer game, always held on the first Friday.

‘’Probably with you again. I don’t really care.’’ Will grinned.

This was becoming their tradition. None of them liked the game that much, so they just decided to ditch it and hide on a tree. Nobody really cared anyway, only Percy sometimes teased them about that. Nico just couldn’t understand the concept of playing in war after all they’ve been through, and Will was only good as a bait and for some reason Nico would not have that. Also Will was the head medic, so he always had lots of things to do after the game.

‘’So, you’re helping me in the infirmary after the game, right?’’ After capture the flag Will needed every help he could get. Every Apollo kid was doing the magic healing, the rest was dealing with the minor injuries like scratches or twisted ankles. It wasn’t anything the ambrosia couldn’t help, but there was always so many injured demigods, that it was hard for only four people to take care of all of them.

‘’Sure, if you want.’’ He always wanted Nico to be around, even if he would only hand him bandages. Mainly he wanted Nico in infirmary just to have him close. Will was so gone for this kid it was quite ridiculous.

‘’I always want you. I mean… To help. Yeah, I always want your help.’’ Will could feel the blush on his ears. He had this problem when sometimes he had no filter to what was coming out of his mouth. He was also blushing quite a lot and nothing was more treacherous than that.

Nico stood up suddenly. Will missed the feeling of Nico’s hand in his. Will looked up at Nico felling a little hurt. Why did Nico let go? Was someone watching them? Did he not feel comfortable with holding Will’s hand? Was that what Will said? Did he scare him away? What did he do?

‘’Percy’s coming this way.’’ He said. Will made a face. He always felt small when Percy was around. He stood up himself, but couldn’t bring himself to look up. He couldn’t even stand straight around Jackson.

_Not enough. Not like him._

Will tried not to think about the whole appearance difference, too. At least he was tall, too.

For some reason Nico looked at him with a frown, then moved closer to him, before Percy got to them. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t get a chance. Suddenly Will felt Nico’s hand on his wrist and the other one on his arm. Just like that Nico snuggled into him.

‘’Hi, gays! I mean guys. Are you with me in capture the flag?’’ Percy smiled at them kindly. He looked like he just left training. He was sweaty and red on his face, but still somehow looked intimidating. Will hated it, he wanted to be at least in a tiniest bit like that.

‘’Who’s on the team?’’ Asked Nico, rolling his eyes at the first part.

‘’My buddy Jason, obviously. Ares and Annabeth. We’re against Hecate and Aphrodite.’’ Nico’s eyes lit up.

‘’Oh, I’m in. I want Drew in the mud again.’’ Percy grinned, looking at Will like he knew something. Will frowned and Percy winked, for some reason.

‘’Protecting the honour of your bo-‘’

‘’Shut up.’’ Nico said. Will looked at Percy, then at Nico, and again at Percy. _What?_ Now he was sure he needed to know what was this about. Nico was protecting someone’s honour? Whose? Was he liking some boy that Will had no idea about?

Shit. _Was_ there a boy? Who? How the fuck did he missed that?

‘’Will, you with us?’’ Will scratched the back of his neck. He was obviously going to be in the same team as Nico. Especially since Percy Jackson was in this team too. He just passionately disliked the idea of these two being together alone. It seemed that him and Nico would be taking active participation in the game and he wasn’t sure he liked the idea. Also Percy.

He was not jealous. Nopity nope.

‘’Yeah, sure.’’ He answered and Percy grinned even more. He rubbed his hands together with a mean sparkle in his eye.

‘’Great. Drew won’t stand a chance.’’ And with that Percy just jumped into the water and disappeared. No sight of him ever hitting the water, just clear surface.

‘’Show off.’’ Murmured Nico. He still didn’t let go of Will’s hand.

Will was so definitely asking Piper about the whole Nico vs. Drew thing. There was just something big he missed and he couldn’t ignore it. He could ask Percy, since he seemed more than happy to mention the whole incident, but his pride would never let him do that.

‘’Food?’’ He asked the smaller boy. Nico only shrugged.

‘’Sure, I’m getting a little hungry anyway. Oh, and Cecil wanted something from you, by the way. I forgot.’’ Will frowned.

‘’Did he tell you what?’’ Nico shook his head.

‘’No, just that he wanted to talk to you.’’

‘’Huh, let’s just find him now, it probably won’t take too long.’’

‘’Why were you worried anyway?’’ Asked Nico after a while of walking. Cecil was nowhere to be found around the stalls or the climbing wall where he usually was. Will was so surprised with Nico’s question, he stopped walking.

‘’Huh?’’ He asked, intelligently.

‘’Just now, before Percy came.’’ Nico looked deep into Will’s eyes and the taller boy felt really exposed. Nico just had those eyes that could see right through everyone. Will put his hands into his pockets and leaned on his right side. He must have looked like an insecure child like that, because Nico frowned. ‘’Tell me.’’

‘’Oh. Well… You.’’ He answered, not meeting Nico’s eyes. The smaller boy sighed, but didn’t seem annoyed. ‘’I’m always freaking worried about you.’’ He added, because he just liked to dig his own grave.

‘’Will-‘’

‘’Just… How are you feeling, Nico?’’ He asked, a little desperate. Nico’s eyes looked softer when he took a step forward and put his hand on Will’s cheek. Will probably did worry about him too much, but after the first night Nico spent in the infirmary, he simply couldn’t not to worry. It seemed to him that he was the only one who was so concerned about the boy. Everybody knew, more or less, what Nico have been through. Somehow most people just assumed that the fact that he survived meant also that he wasn’t hurting. Just because he was on his own for so long, they thought he choose it, like it was convenient for him to be alone. It was total fucking bullshit. Nico needed to have someone who would pay attention to him more than just sometimes. Will was more than happy to bug him all the time. The walls Nico built around himself, Will wanted them completely gone.

_He was supposed to be doing his doctor round that morning, check on every patient, but staying awake seemed harder than ever. He slept maybe three hours tops the night before and he overused his powers to heal the badly injured demigods. When Will stepped inside the room Nico was staying in, his eyes almost pooped out of his head like in those stupid cartoons he watched as a kid. Just a second before that, he was ready jump into the nearest bed and go to sleep but what he saw felt like an adrenaline shot. Nico was laying curled in a ball on the floor, shaking a little in his sleep. Did he feel of a bed? He looked like he didn’t even sleep in it. The covers were  exactly like when Will left the room the night before._

_He run to the boy and crouched down._

_‘’Nico. Hey, Nico, wake up.’’ He shook Nico’s arms firmly to wake him up. He realised that the son of Hades was colder than usually and got scared he will start fading again. It took him a minute to wake him up. Nico opened his eyes a little and Will sighed in relief._

_‘’What?’’_

_‘’What are you doing on the floor?’’ He helped Nico sit up, but didn’t move his hand from his back, sneakily trying to feel what Nico felt. He was a little scared after the last time, but decided to do it anyway. Nico seemed embarrassed for some reason and Will furred his eyebrows. ‘’C’mon, Spooks. You can tell me.’’ Nico sighed and looked down._

_‘’I can’t sleep on the bed.’’ He said faintly. Will was pretty sure Nico would blush if he weren’t so bone-tired. He furrowed his brows._

_‘’Why? What’s wrong with this bed?’’ Was it something with the pillows? Or were the covers itchy? Was Nico allergic to this material? Was it dirty? Will was sure the bed wasn’t dirty when he put Nico in it, but maybe he overlooked something. Maybe it belonged to someone who recently died in the camp and Nico felt it. Shit, were his powers even working like that? He couldn’t just ask him that._

_‘’It’s just… I feel like I’m sinking into a cloud.’’ Will was so confused and Nico seemed more embarrassed every second._

_‘’What?’’ He asked. Nico sighed and started to play with his skull ring. Will realised he did that a lot when he felt anxious. He wanted to put his hand on Nico’s, but he knew Nico didn’t like to be touched. He still didn’t know his boundaries._

_‘’It’s too soft.’’ Nico whispered miserably._

_‘’It’s a normal bed. It’s not that soft, Nico.’’ Said Will gently. He felt as if Nico could run any second. Was he thinking Will was making fun of him? He would never, but Nico didn’t knew him enough to know that._

_‘’it’s too soft for me.’’ He stated with a broken voice._

_‘’So you decided to sleep on the floor, Sunshine?’’_

_‘’Yeah.’’ Well, at least he didn’t feel of it. Suddenly Will had a haunting thought. He remembered a documentary he saw with his mom a few years back about soldiers and what they said about coming home after months at war._

_‘’When was the last time you’ve slept on a bed, Nico?’’ He asked, voice a little shaky. Nico stopped playing with his ring and then started again._

_‘’I don’t remember.’’ He shrugged. ‘’Maybe something about two years ago.’’ Gods, Will wanted to hug the living shit out of this boy and never let him go._

_‘’What about Argo II?’’ He asked after a while._

_‘’I didn’t sleep. Not really. Just napped on the sofas. And I wasn’t there for too long. Before that was…’’ He stopped. Will felt a small shiver run through his body. He knew exactly what place Nico meant. ‘’And before that I was mostly traveling and sleeping on hairs in waiting rooms or any place that was warm enough.’’ Will sighed. Nico’s words left bitter taste on his tongue._

_‘’You really can’t sleep on the bed?’’ He asked after a minute._

_‘’No.’’_

_‘’What about a tiny mattress? We might find something firmer in the storage room so you won’t sleep on the floor.’’_

_‘’Thank you, Will.’’ It was the first time he looked into Will’s eyes that morning._

‘’Will, I’m good. Everything’s fine. I sleep better and I barely have nightmares now.’’ Said Nico softly, making Will snap out of his thoughts. Was he this close before? Will could feel the warm of his breath on his other cheeks. Nico’s voice was almost a whisper. ‘’You don’t have to worry about me so much anymore.’’ Not even for a second Nico dropped his eyes. He was looking into Will’s eyes like he was waiting for something. Will wanted to kiss him so badly. Instead, he panicked and took a step back.

‘’I’m sorry. Let’s just go find Cecil, before he does something.’’ Nico looked weirdly disappointed. Why? Will had no idea. He decided not to dwell on it too much. Nico was doing a lot of things he didn’t understand. Will had his heart rate to control anyway.

‘’Fine.’’ Nico said with a sigh. He started walking without waiting for Will. Will frowned.

‘’Are you angry?’’ He asked. ‘’Nico?’’

‘’Let’s just find Cecil.’’

They found Cecil with one of his brothers. They were standing on the edge of the forest without anyone nearby. They looked like they were planning something. Leaning into each other and whispering with those typical Hermes-like smirks. Like they were going to rob a bank with glass dildos or something. Nico didn’t say a word while they walked. Will didn’t have to touch him to know he was mad. Mad at Will. Why? The hell did Will do? Again.

‘’Hi.’’ Said Will looking suspiciously between Cecil and Andy. He narrowed his eyes, sensing trouble. It was just their aura.

‘’So we’ve heard something interesting from Chiron today.’’ Started Andy, grinning more every second.

‘’As in ears dropped?’’ Asked Nico and Cecil nodded.

‘’Naturally.’’ Why did he look so proud? Will sometimes wondered how the hell did he become friends with Cecil. They were pretty much polar opposites.

‘’And?’’ He asked, not really interested. He was one of those people who preferred to wait on the big reveal. He liked surprises.

‘’The Romans will be coming here next week.’’ Nico didn’t look any surprised. Will titled his head.

‘’You knew?’’

‘’Hazel told me yesterday over the phone.’’ He shrugged. ‘’But I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. And they will be here in two weeks, not one.’’

‘’Does anyone else know?’’

‘’I didn’t tell anyone.’’ He looked at the brothers with a warning. ‘’It was supposed to be a surprise.’’

‘’We didn’t tell anyone either. We were just thinking about the traps.’’ Will blinked.

‘’Traps?’’

‘’Of course. We will not lose to Romans on our territory this time.’’ Will really wanted to argue, but they had a point. He sighed and shook his head.

‘’Fine. But in two weeks I see both of you in infirmary.’’

‘’Why must you be this way?’’

‘Either that or I’m telling Chiron.’’ Cecil gasped, but Will only looked at him challenging with a hard look. Cecil sighed.

‘’You’re no fun, really, Will.’’

They all went to dinner bickering on the way. Will realised after some time that Nico didn’t really said anything, which wasn’t much unusual, but Will had a feeling it had something to do with Nico being mad at him for some reason.

They sat at the Apollo table in silence.

‘’You guys saw the cool arrows Jake made yesterday?’’ Asked Austin.

‘’Yeah, they’re quite useful.’’ Answered Kyla. New arrows, what? Will was confused. He knew nothing of new arrows. He looked at Nico, but the other boy pretended to be busy with his dinner. Will sighed and looked at his own plate. He lost his appetite. Kyla and Austin were disgusting Jake’s new invention, but Will found himself not being able to focus on their voices. Why was Nico mad at him? Was he mad because Will wanted to kiss him? Did he realised Will liked him? Does he feel uncomfortable because of this?

Will was happy for the first time he didn’t have anything to do after dinner. When Nico quickly left to his cabin, Will did the same to mop in silence for the rest of the day. 


	2. Maybe I'm defective  Or maybe I'm dumb  I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some comments would be really nice. Call me out on my mistakes guys, whatever. English is not my first language and i've learned more by tv and music myself than ever in school. So if i made some mistakes, please tell me  
> Title from Nothing But Thieves - Sorry  
> great song, great band, saw them live, they're amazing

Nico still hasn’t said a word to him during dinner the very next day. He even sat with Jason instead of Will and his siblings. Will could just look at him with longing the whole time, mastering his puppy dog eyes. Why was Nico still not talking to him? How much did he actually screwed up last night? He tried to recreate the whole conversation they had over again in his head a few hundred times. Nico got angry when Will stepped back. Was he not supposed to do that? What was he supposed to do then? Stand there like a dumbass and have a heart attack because Nico was so close, Will could see the little birthmark on the side of his nose? Because surely it couldn’t be that Nico wanted Will to kiss him. Will found that too impossible to even consider it an option. Maybe Nico was irritated with him for worrying so much? It was more likely than the kiss thing. Will didn't even know where did he get this idea from. 

He sighed, feeling defeated. He couldn’t even focus on his work and it was only inventory. He put band aids on the shelf where ambrosia was supposed to be, and ambrosia on the place of painkillers. Where were painkillers then? He didn’t remember where he had put them. He didn’t even remember having them in his hands.

‘’Will.’’ Someone said his name. He turned around, surprised to discover he wasn’t alone.

‘’Huh? What?’’ Kayla had a worried look on her face.

‘’Are you okay?’’ She asked softly. ‘’You seem a bit distracted. What’s going on, man?’’ She put the band aids where they were supposed to be and sat on the desk. Will sat next to her with an even bigger sigh. He played with the hem of his shirt for a while before speaking.

‘’I… Uh… Nico is, I think, angry with me and I don’t know what I did.’’ Kayla blinked a few times.

‘’That’s it?’’ She asked, surprised. ‘’You look like you just killed a puppy and that’s the reason?’’ Will could feel the blush on his ears. His whole face felt hot. His sister chuckled.  ‘’You’re hopeless, dude.’’

‘’Hey, it’s a perfectly valid reason.’’ He answered defensively. He told her in hopes of getting another opinion, not having her make fun of him. He figured he should have known. He knew Kayla for a long time. His misery was an endless source of entertainment for her since the moment she got into the camp.

‘’Sure, for a lovesick dumb idiot like you.’’

‘’I did not ask for an opinion, Kayla.’’ He did. He was just unhappy with the one he got.

‘’And yet I gave you one.‘’ She sticked her tongue out. He did the same.

‘’Meanie.’’

‘’What did you do anyway?’’

‘’I have no idea.’’ He whined. He felt so confused and frustrated and above all that he was ready to cry. He was miserable because Nico didn’t talk with him. It was a pretty pathetic reason, but he couldn’t help it. He was extremely emotional, he knew that. Chiron told him Apollo was the reason for it. That he must have been profoundly emotional while with his mother.

He looked at Kayla. She was waiting for him to speak, but she didn’t rush him. Will was grateful for that. Will took a deep breath. He decided to tell Kayla about the whole situation. About how he was worried about Nico, how he almost kissed him, how Nico seemed to get angry with him right after Will stepped back. Kayla only hummed. He also told her about the Romans, while he shouldn’t have. Words were coming out of his mouth and he couldn’t stop them. He felt a bit better after that.

‘’That’s what I thought.’’ She stated in the end. He looked at her with hope in his eyes. Maybe she had some miracle solution he could use.  

‘’What?’’ Will asked. He was full of hope.

‘’You’re an imbecile.’’ _Oh_.’’ He wanted you to kiss him.’’

‘’No… Definitely not. ‘’ Did he? But didn’t Nico like someone else? Some mysterious boy Percy mentioned. Or at least tried to mention. Maybe Nico stopped him, because he knew Will likes him? And so he didn’t wanted Will to be sad? Or for the situation to get awkward? Shit, did Nico knew about his feelings?

‘’Sure. Keep believing that if you want to.’’ Said Kayla. ‘’But what we gonna do about the Romans? Cecil had a point about not losing on our territory. What traps did he mean exactly?’’

‘’I don’t know! And neither he nor us should know about this.‘’

‘’But we do and we should use it.‘’ He shrugged. He figured there’s no stopping either of them. ‘‘They have time to prepare themselves. They’re probably training right now.’’

‘’Whatever.’’

Kayla didn’t say anything after that. She stood up and started doing his work. Meanwhile Will started thinking.

_‘’What are you doing?’’ Nico asked him one day. It was late, most of the campers were already in beds. The moon was already out and there was some chill in the air. Will couldn’t sleep that night at all. It’s been forty days since the war ended. Will was thinking about all the friends he had lost, how many more he may lose next time. He quietly left his cabin and sat on the beach, watching the calm waves. He hoped he would be alone, but Nico’s company wasn’t that bad._

_Nico barely talked with anybody. It was mostly because he didn’t know how to start a conversation. He was still scared people wouldn’t like him. That nobody would want him around. Will still feared that one day this beautiful boy would simply disappear._

_‘’Ah, nothing.’’ He answered. Nico stood next to  him and looked at the waves. He had blanket with skulls in his hands.  ‘’Cool blanket.’’ Will said. Nico looked at it._

_‘’It was a gift.’’ He answered with a shrug. He smiled softly after that and Will felt his heart skip a beat. ‘’ And it’s pretty cool anyway. Help me spread it, please.’’ Will was confused for a moment but he stood up and took one side of the blanket._

_‘’You sure you want sand on it?’’ It was a nice blanket. Will would hate to get it dirty._

_‘’I’m not Anakin, I don’t mind sand that much.’’ Will chuckled and they sat on the blanket._

_‘’You like Star Wars?’’_

_‘’Piper made me watch it with her the other day. My favourite is Han.’’ Will hummed. Of course it was Han. Will was pretty sure he was everybody’s favourite. He never heard someone say that about Luke. He was too whiny._

_‘’I had a crush on him for a long time.’’ He said. Party because it was true, but also to let Nico know he liked boys. Will wasn’t shy about it, every camper knew he was bi, but for some reason he wanted Nico to know that._

_‘’Him?’’_

_‘’Well, on Leia, too.’’_

_‘’Oh.’’ Nico was quiet for a moment, Will was starting to get nervous. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that? His hands started to sweat. The silence was getting awkward. And then Nico spoke again. His voice was so quiet Will barely heard him. ‘’I think I might have a crush on Han, too.’’ Will’s heart skipped a beat again. He smiled to himself._

_‘’It’s the hair.’’ He said. ‘’And that attitude.’’ Nico nodded._

_‘’I like his smile.’’_

_‘’That too.’’_

_‘’Why were you sitting here all alone?’’ Nico asked after a while. Will sighed._

_‘’I was thinking. I just… I miss my friends. My family. I don’t know…’’_

_‘’A lot of them choosed rebirth. The rest is in Elysium.’’ Will wasn’t sure if he felt sad or relieved for them. He figured their death seemed now more real._

‘’You talked to Piper yesterday like you wanted, anyway? She might help you with this whole Nico thing.’’

‘’What? Oh, right. No. I forgot. I’m gonna go now.’’ Kayla only nodded as he run to the exit. He felt a little bad for leaving her with his work, but she didn’t seem to mind that much. He would only think about Nico anyway.

Will didn’t have to look for Piper too long. She was in the second place he checked.

Piper was training with Billy and Ethan on the arena. Billy and Ethan were new campers, they got to the camp a few weeks earlier. Billy was from Aphrodite cabin and Ethan was another Hermes kid. They both looked so alike, everyone thought they were twins. The only difference was that Ethan was taller, when Billy was quite chubby.

Will sat on the ground a few meter away, watching them. Piper was good at fighting. She was also learning very quickly and sometimes playing dirty. She was so good at charmspeak she didn’t even need to do the speaking part. One look into the eyes of her victim was enough. Will thought it was a cool Jedi power.  She was really quick as well and moving with such grace. Will admired her. It took her only a minute to have both Billy and Ethan on the ground again.

‘’Piper, can I ask you something?’’ He handed her a water bottle and she drank it all at once. Piper was covered in sweat, a little red on her face, but still managed to look good.

‘’Sure, let’s sit down, tho. What’s up?’’

‘’What happened between Nico and Drew?’’

‘’Oh, he didn’t tell you?’’ Will shook his head. ‘’Well, I suppose he could be quite embarrassed. Drew was making fun of Gen’s freckles, then she said something like ‘ _at least she’s not covered in them like Solace_ ’ and Nico told her not to say anything like that about you and suddenly there was a skeletal hand and Drew had her face in the mud.’’

‘’Oh. That’s…’’ He felt himself blushing under her knowing eyes. He scratched his head and looked down. She was sometimes way too smart. She was the first person who knew about his crush on Nico. She knew before he did.

Also that part about his freckles. He never really liked them. And he was, in fact, covered. He had freckled all over his face, much like that actor Eddie Redmayne, but also on his arms, chest, legs, back and even his butt. Who had freckles on their butts?

‘’Cute. That’s the word you’re looking for. Really, Will. The whole camp is waiting for you two to get together. But don’t do it this week, I want to win the bet I have with Percy.’’ Will decided to ignore the part about the whole camp. And anyway, he wasn’t sure Nico liked him that way. He liked Percy, why would he like Will? And there still was the mysterious boy Jackson mentioned.

_What, a bet?_

‘’Isn’t that cheating?’’ He asked with a frown. Piper smirked at that and her eyes changed colour.

‘’All fair in love and war and that falls under both categories.’’ She was so smug. He laughed at that. This was the reason he liked her so much.

‘’You’re evil.’’

‘’Yes, yes I am.’’ She answered, looking him dead in the eyes. Annabeth joined them quietly and Will almost jumped.

‘’Why are you evil this time?’’ She asked Piper, who only grinned.

‘’Oh, nothing important, just something with Percy.’’

‘’Oh, tell me. I wanna know.’’ Annabeth seemed excited.

‘’It’s about the bet I have with him about Nico and Will.’’ Will felt a little awkward listening to people talking about him, so he decided to remind them about his presence.

‘’I’m still here, you know?’’

‘’Why? Go find your future boyfriend, meanwhile we will gossip about ours.’’

‘’If I were Percy or Jason, I would be terrified.’’

‘’Oh, they are, which makes it even more fun.’’

‘’Look at them, they look so scared thinking we’re giving away their most embarrassing secrets.’’ Will looked in the same direction they were looking. Percy and Jason stood in front of the Big House, throwing quick glances at them, looking worried.

‘’You two.’’ Will laughed and shook his head. He decided to leave them to whatever evil plans they had. He also made a mental note not to piss them off, like ever. They were scary.

For the rest of the day Will tried to focus on his assignments. He went back to the infirmary to check on some patients. Kayla was already leaving, when he got back. It took her about ten minutes to do the thing he was tormenting himself with since morning. He thanked her and she waved her hand at him as if it was nothing. Later he attended music lessons and history. Some Athena kids decided to create a study group to help campers with school work. Nobody was happy about doing school work during summer, but almost every camper was glad to have the help. Will was helping with math and biology related studies. With that, the day came to an end really soon and Will sat next to Nico at the campfire.

‘’Hi.’’ He said shyly. He wasn’t sure if Nico was still mad at him. He hoped he wasn’t. He was pretty sure he would cry if Nico would ignore him. ‘’Please talk to me.’’ Nico took a deep breath.

‘’I’m sorry.’’ He said after a while. ‘’I shouldn’t get mad. It was stupid. How was your day?’’

‘’It was a day. You?’

‘’Same.’’

‘’So… Piper told me what happened with Drew.’’ Will saw Nico looking down with a slight blush on his cheeks. He wasn’t blushing very often. Will loved when he blushed.  

 ‘’Yeah?’’

‘’Yup. Thank you, that was really sweet.’’

‘’I just don’t like people talking mean things about you.’’ Will saw how embarrassed Nico was. He laid his head on Nico’s arm in a boost of confidence.

‘’It goes both ways, you know?’’ Nico didn’t answered, but Will saw a tiny smile on his face. He counted that was victory. ‘’And I don’t really care if she makes fun of me, well, not as much as I would before.’’

‘’Doesn’t mean I don’t care either. I don’t like when people talk shit about you, it’s not fair. They don’t see you the way they should.’’ Will was red on his face. He knew that. He felt that. He wanted to say something, but his mind was blank. Did Nico meant it?

‘’Hey! Will, sing with us.’’ Austin said. Will opened his eyes in fear.

_‘’Oh no.’’_

‘’Go.’’ Nico chuckled, pushing him in the direction of his siblings.

‘’Why, you just want to laugh at me.’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’Ass.’’

And with that, everything was normal again.


End file.
